Slavery in the Roman Empire
Topic: The Roman Empire · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "An Empire Across Three Continents"
Meaning
Slavery was deeply rooted in the Roman world. Even after Christianity became the state religion, it did not seriously challenge slavery. Slaves were a large share of labour in Republican Italy, but across the whole empire most work was not done by slaves. Owners treated slaves as an investment and thought carefully about the cost.
Example
Under Augustus, Italy had about 3 million slaves in a population of 7.5 million. The peace of the first century cut the supply of new slaves. Owners then turned to slave breeding or to cheaper wage labour, since slaves had to be fed all year. Slaves and freedmen (former slaves who had been set free) were often used as business managers.
Don't confuse with
- Debt bondage: a slave was owned as property. A person in debt bondage was legally free but forced to work to pay off a debt.